


Antidote

by brokeandgorges



Category: ONER, 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, engineer!yue yue, model!mu ziyang, mufen mentioned, yue yue ages faster because he doesn't understand the concept of sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-02 10:37:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15794802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokeandgorges/pseuds/brokeandgorges
Summary: Yue Minghui is passionate with his work, so passionate he traded sleep with work countless times.Mu Ziyang is a concerned, audacious housemate who set him up on the 'Cuddle Buddy' app behind his back.promptYue Yue hates any forms of affection was forced by Mu ZIyang to use the 'Cuddle Buddy' app. Bu Fan, expert cuddler, enters and maybe Yue Yue doesn't mind skinship at all





	Antidote

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by this prompt on twitter by @fanpd_ https://twitter.com/fanpd_/status/1031498611375239168
> 
> The prompt is so cute I immediately feel motivated to write again and there arent many buyue fics on ao3 anyway so I feel like i needed this for myself too lol.
> 
> This thing went from a short drabble to approx. 4k word fic. tbh im so suprised i managed to get it that far but also why the fuck lmao

Mu Ziyang entered the kitchen with a towel in his hand, ruffling his hair dry and greeted by a strong scent of freshly brewed coffee. In the middle of the kitchen sat a dark-haired guy still in his varsity sweater and a mug in his hands which explained why the kitchen smelt so alive on a Saturday morning. The aroma sure woke Ziyang up but not quite for the other guy whose eyes rimmed with heavy dark circles.  


Ziyang poured himself a mug of coffee as he asked, “Did you even sleep?”  


His housemate chugged his coffee. “I tried.”  


“You look horrible.” Ziyang took a seat at the table opposite him. His remark was met with an exasperated sigh.  


“I’ve been doing long hours for weeks; you _bet_ I look like Death came visit me. Actually, I probably saw the Angel of Death a couple of times. Probably just checking out this tired soul and wondering why Yue Minghui hasn’t come up in their list considering how dead I look.”  


“You need help.”  


“Yes, please. _Please_ help me figure out what’s wrong with my calculations and why are we still stuck at the prototypes?” Minghui began flailing his arms as he listed all the possibilities why his project had not been doing so well.  


“I mean sleep. What you need is sleep.” Ziyang put a hand on Minghui’s arm.  


Minghui looked at his housemate dead in the eye. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do which at this point is more of a failure than that dumb machine in the lab.”  


“Maybe you just haven’t tried enough?”  


Minghui almost popped a nerve when he heard Ziyang. He has pushed beyond his limits in his workplace and he knew he had exhausted himself trying to sleep so how dare someone told him to try harder. Even if that someone is Mu Ziyang, his housemate and longtime friend.  


Ziyang quickly added knowing well how triggering his words were. “As in maybe you just need the warmth of another human to help you sleep?”  


“Are you proposing to sleep with me?”  


Ziyang pulled his face in the same way he did when Qin Fen came bursting into their apartment one morning wearing the same shirt he was seen leaving for dinner the night before with some guy from his workplace – was it Mudo or _Mubo_ or some guy. “The last time we shared a bed you were whining all night about how too close we were.”  


“I don’t like people invading my personal space,” Minghui defended.  


Ziyang lifted his mug towards Minghui. “ _Really, really_ don’t like.”  


Minghui reciprocated with a lift of his eyebrows. It was known fact that Yue Minghui wasn’t someone who favored physical contact. Rather, he would be far content with no physical contact at all. This part of him was what drove off any potential lovers and friends, and what made him able to stay cooped up in the laboratory working on his projects. Mu Ziyang was one of the few people who stayed around thus the only few who accepted Minghui as he was and respected his boundaries.  


“But science says humans sleep better with company and _you_ need sleep, my science man.”  


“Does science tells you how to get a sleeping partner while respecting my boundaries?” Minghui retorted.  


“Well…”  


“I’m not going out on a date just so I can sleep. It takes too much effort. So you can throw that thought out the window,” Minghui quickly added when he noticed a mischievous grin creeping on Ziyang’s face.  


“You don’t have to though. There’s a way…”  


“A way to what?”  


“There’s an app that let you set up with someone who will cuddle you to sleep but, like, platonically, no strings attached or sex.” Ziyang’s eyes lit up as he explained, much to Minghui’s concern.  


“That sounds even worse.”  


“No, it’s not.”  


“I’ll be sleeping with a stranger. That’s far worse than sleeping with you.”  


“I appreciate your undying trust in me but you need a cuddle buddy, someone other than me because I can’t stand your whining whenever I get an armpit hair-length close to you.” Ziyang jumped out of his chair and walked towards the bedroom briskly. “Where d’you put your phone?”  


Minghui groaned into his palm as he listened to Ziyang crying out in excitement. If it wasn’t for his sleep-deprived body he would have sprinted towards his bedroom but his legs felt heavy and the room swirled whenever he moved his head so he just sat there in the kitchen, swallowing bitter coffee along with his agony.

_

Yue Minghui’s Saturday had not been as calm as he expected. He woke up with a terrible headache due to lack of sleep – not that it was intentional – so he made himself a mug of concentrated black coffee, hoping that the caffeine will kick his body awake. He was into his second serving before his roommate came and proposed a ridiculous idea that Minghui had to admit his lack of strength to object was the reason Ziyang got away with it. However that topic soon disappeared into the black hole of his mind where useless conversations resided when he got a call.  


The voice at the other end was notably calm, with a hint of fatigue, as he gave a rundown of the happenings in Minghui’s laboratory. There were the usual maintenance checks and bureaucratic issues, none of much concern to Minghui until the voice mentioned how their calculations failed yet again. A disheveled grunt left Minghui’s lips as he paced back and forth in the living room. His free hand ran through his hair multiple times.  


“Have you-” Minghui were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. He turned around with the most vexed eyeroll.  


“Minghui?” the caller asked when the line became silent.  


“Yeah, hold on,” he answered. “My housemate forgot his keys, again.”  


Minghui walked towards the door while yelling, “I swear, Ziyang, God must’ve hate you. He gave you a lamppost for a body and pea for a brain. How the fuck do you keep forgetting your keys? Like, do you not lock the door after you left?”  


Minghui opened the door furiously.  


“Oh yeah, of course you didn’t. Because I locked up after you. You know what, you’re lucky that no one tried to break in while it’s unlocked. Like, imagine a stranger…” Minghui’s voice caught in his throat as he saw the man standing in front of his door.  


He had dark hair and large eyes that wrinkled at the corner as his lips curved into a smile and tall – _shit, he’s really tall_. And shit this wasn’t his housemate.  


Minghui struggled to let out any word. He stood there, neck craned upwards to see the tall stranger’s face and mouth gaped. His brain were screaming at how stupid he must have looked and working in overdrive to return Minghui’s speech ability.  


“Are you Yue Minghui?” the stranger asked and Minghui realized how deep his voice was. So deep that standing in close proximity with him sent shivers down Minghui’s neck.  


“You’re not Ziyang,” was Minghui’s sad attempt to resume communication.  


Minghui was taken back when the stranger laughed. He wasn’t prepared for it. He wasn’t prepared to hear a euphonious laughter amidst the deep timbre of his voice. He wasn’t prepared to feel a surge of warmth throughout his body up to his head, warm enough to chase a portion of dark clouds looming over Minghui away.  


“I’m not. I’m Bu Fan,” the stranger said with a smile that dissipated the scary aura his default face gave off.  


Minghui nodded, unsure what to do with that information. Okay, so this attractive stranger had a name. His name was Bu Fan. And then what? _Why is he in front of my apartment?_  


“I’m sorry. I know I’m too early. I had some prior arrangements nearby so I thought I’ll just come straight here. If that’s okay with you…” Bu Fan’s eyes wandered to the phone in Minghui’s hand. “Do you want to answer that first?”  


Minghui, as if in trance, put the phone to his ear without breaking eye contact with Bu Fan. “Yeah?”  


“You were saying?” the caller asked.  


“I was saying?”  


“Uh…you were gonna say something. We were talking about the software’s calculations…”  


An imaginary bulb lit up in Minghui’s mind, waking him from daze. “Oh yeah, yes, that, I mean, we should-”  


“Minghui, if you’re still tired you should rest. I shouldn’t have bothered you on your day off,” the caller interrupted, voice emitting concern.  


Minghui paced around his living room. “No, no, I’m fine. Let’s just…just continue our conversation.” He held his temple. “The calculation, right? Since there are two compressors-“  


“It’s alright. We can figure it out. You just rest, okay? I’ll get back to you when you come in tomorrow.”  


“I don’t need rest. I had 3 mugs of coffee and I can’t even sleep. I’m just wasting my time in this goddamn place doing nothing!”  


There was no reply.  


In fact there were no sounds coming from the phone at all. Minghui brought his phone away from his ears and saw the call has ended. He closed his eyes, the grip on his phone tightened, as he let out a scream.  


“You know that’s not healthy, right?”  


In the midst of calming his nerves and trying to figure out just what the hell is wrong with the system, Minghui absolutely forgot he has a tall stranger named Bu Fan in his apartment that he had yet to figure out the reason he was there.  


Bu Fan was standing by the shoe rack, still in his coat and shoes, when Minghui opened his eyes. His expression painted with concern.  


Minghui ran his fingers through his hair several times and alternating between gesturing to Bu Fan and mumbling to himself. There was so much going on, so much to filter; Minghui felt his brain frying itself over. His mumbling intensified so as his grip on his hair.  


“Hey, hey, hey. Calm down.” Bu Fan kicked off his shoes and rushed over to Minghui. He held Minghui’s hand, the one that was gripping his hair, stopping him from ripping his hair apart.  


Minghui’s first instinct to sudden physical contact with strangers was to push them away yet it didn’t happen when Bu Fan held him. In his overworked brain, he couldn’t determine why he was acting as such but he definitely felt a surge of warmth – the same warmth he felt earlier.  


Bu Fan brought Minghui to the living room’s couch and sat him down. Minghui was no longer gripping his hair however Bu Fan still had his arms around Minghui. Bu Fan lightly massages into Minghui’s arms as he held him.  


“Are you okay now?” Bu Fan asked once he felt Minghui’s body relaxed.  


Minghui nodded. 

Bu Fan pulled his arm away and Minghui found his body chasing after his warmth before he pulled his body back. There was an unexplainable comfort Minghui kept feeling whenever he was around Bu Fan and it was perplexing because it was their first time meeting. Everything about Bu Fan felt so familiar even though all Minghui knew of him was only his name. 

“I don’t mean to be rude but you shouldn’t drink that much of coffee in one day,” Minghui heard Bu Fan said. 

Minghui looked up and traced Bu Fan’s face, noting the thickness of his eyebrows. “Yeah, I need something to bring me back to life since I’ve been having trouble sleeping.” 

“Isn’t that counterproductive? Like, if you need to sleep, caffeine will just do the opposite.” 

Minghui’s eyes fell onto Bu Fan’s lips, observing the prominence of his cupid bow as he spoke. “I don’t understand myself, either.” 

“Is that why you’re looking for a cuddle buddy?” 

Minghui blinked in realization. “What d’you say?” 

“Uh…cuddle buddy?” 

Where had Minghui heard of this phrase before? He tried to scan his memory of when he encountered the phrase but anything not related to his projects were all hazy fragments of images. He was sure he heard it just recently even though the memory of it seemed distant. 

There were coffee and feeling of fatigue and the word ‘sleep’ and his housemate…His housemate… 

“Fuck, Mu Ziyang.” 

“Excuse me?” 

Minghui palmed his face, muffling an agonized groan. “I think there’s a misunderstanding.” 

Bu Fan’s brows contorted in confusion. 

“It wasn’t me who requested a cuddle buddy. It was my housemate. I’m sorry, it’s not your problem but he just wants me to sleep, but I told him I don’t need it, so…ugh…I’ll pay for your expenses for coming all the way here. I’m sorry I wasted your time-“ 

“Why don’t you just try?” 

Minghui’s lips pursed mid-sentence. 

Bu Fan shrugged, flashing a smile that showcased his perfectly lined teeth. “Your housemate’s right. You’re cute, even with this whole disheveled thing going on, but you kinda look like you’re about to combust any second.” 

Minghui definitely swept that compliment to the back of his mind which he would get back to and gush about and overanalyze things. However he considered Bu Fan’s offer. Would it be _that_ bad that he sleep with someone? He did need sleep but how bad was it that he needed a stranger in his bed to be able to sleep? Nonetheless, Minghui felt more comfortable with this stranger than his own housemate whom he had known for years so maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. 

\- 

Minghui stood in front of his bed, staring at the super single-sized bed draped in moss-colored comforter in the middle of his bedroom. When he agreed to sleep with Bu Fan, he had forgotten how his bed, ideally, only fit one adult. Not two and, especially, not when one of them was as tall as a coconut tree. 

But did bailing out an option when they were already dressed in their pajamas and Bu Fan’s smile a tad bit too excited?

Maybe Minghui could still talk his way out of this. Pay him twice the money he offered before or just gave up his bed for the night for his guest and sleep on the couch.

_Maybe this is a bad idea._

Bu Fan didn’t wait for an invitation to come his way for him to comfortably climb on the bed and stretch his legs out. He patted the area next to him. “Come.” He settled down into the bed so quick, if someone hadn’t known better they would assume Minghui was the guest instead of Bu Fan.

Minghui began his stride towards the bed slowly all the while second guessing his decision and reasoning with his inner demons that were being exceptionally eager for him to jump into the bed. At the time, Minghui wished he had Ziyang’s inner demons instead which at their worst was questionably poor fashion decision. But Ziyang’s high fashion model ass still looked good in an oversized blood red vinyl leather coat with wide ankle-length pants so Ziyang still won in the end.

Despite the bedroom being fairly spacious, it felt much smaller when Minghui’s leg met the bedframe way earlier than he wanted. The only space left between him and Bu Fan was the area Bu Fan had left for him. Minghui looked at the area made up of half of the bed that could uncomfortably fit him. He could move away if he wanted to yet he felt like he had nowhere to go but forward where the bed was.

Minghui climbed on the bed and lied on his back stiffly as he tried to keep the rest of his body fit into the small space. It was taking too much effort for this to be helpful for his insomnia. “This is uncomfortable.”

Bu Fan let out his signature deep laugh that reverberated down Minghui’s spine. “Of course, if you sleep like that. Come here.” Bu Fan pulled Minghui towards him by the waist that elicited a startled gasp from Minghui.

“Um-wh-what are you doing?” 

“Cuddling you because I’m your ‘cuddle buddy’.”

Minghui’s eyes caught Bu Fan’s whose dark, round pupil reflected the light so beautifully like a pair of onyx glimmering in the sunlight. A pair of eyes that seemed like it could heal any illness and protect from harm – protect Yue Minghui from harm – only to be hidden by a pair of strong arched eyebrows.

In his twenty-six years of living, Minghui had never known how something so common can affect him in ways he had not been affected. He had never known how a voice can entrenched in him so deeply yet so calming like a cascading waterfall or eyes so assured that it grounded him in safety. He still hadn’t figured out how but being encircled by a figure who made him felt all of those was enough for Minghui to close his eyes and swept into a calming slumber – something he hadn’t experience for a long while.

-

There wasn’t a lot of occasion where Yue Minghui overslept his alarm clock or arrived late to anything. The recent one was when he had finally sleep after four nights working on his final year project but his professional career had never been tainted by tardiness – except today. 

Minghui’s arrival was greeted by a coworker who didn’t bother to comment on his wrinkled shirt, mismatched socks or bedhead as it wasn’t the first time he came in like he had fallen off a helicopter into the Amazon and fought a crocodile barehanded. What the coworker bothered to comment was his punctuality. 

“I know. I overslept,” Minghui replied as he walked past the coworker and entered the changing room. 

He followed Minghui with a perplexed look. “You overslept?” 

“It won’t happen again.” Minghui threw his bag into his locker and pulled out his jumpsuit. He hastily put it on, grabbed his other gears and reached for the door. 

His coworker whose blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail stopped the door. “You overslept,” he said. 

“And it won’t happen again,” Minghui reassured, feeling slightly agitated that he was being questioned. 

“You can’t even sleep, Yue Yue. How were you able to oversleep?” the blonde guy took a step forward menacingly. He was shorter than Minghui by a whole head but Minghui wouldn’t doubt his ability to put out several punches when he needed to. 

“Someone slept with me,” Minghui quickly answered. Rather than anxiety, he was feeling impatient that he was being held from going back to his work. Minghui pulled the door again only to be blocked by his coworker whose eyes seemed to be sparkling. 

“Someone slept with you?”

Minghui rolled his eyes as he shifted on his feet. “Yes, he helped me sleep.” Minghui’s voice grew annoyed having to repeat what he said.

“He helped you sleep?” the blonde’s voice increased in pitch. 

“Zhou Rui, if we have no other intelligent matter to discuss then I suggest you remove yourself from this door.” 

Zhou Rui released his hand from the door without further resistance letting Minghui left the changing room and missing the mischievous smirk creeping up Zhou Rui’s face.

-

If it were up to Yue Minghui, he would spend the night – heck, even days – in the lab but Zhou Rui was nagging Minghui’s ear off to go back home and get some fucking rest. Not to mention, Zhou Rui threatened that he won’t go back either until Minghui left. On any other day, that threat probably didn’t have as much zest as Zhou Rui thought it would be but Minghui remembered how Zhou Rui covered for him and had worked for four days straight. Letting Zhou Rui stayed around another day in his name was just plain cruel. 

So here he was, hand unlocking his apartment’s door and inhaling the smell of hot fried chicken wafted in the air. Mu Ziyang probably bought takeouts for dinner and Minghui hoped he bothered buying some for him too. As he entered the kitchen, a chorus of voices greeted him. He recognized his housemate’s voice, Mu Ziyang and the self-invited guest who could pass off as one of the tenants, Qin Fen. But there was another voice that didn’t fit with the other two but was still familiar.

“Yue Yue!” Qin Fen called and motioned him to come to the dining table.

“I didn’t know you gonna come.” Minghui walked towards the table and placed his bag on one of the chairs.

“I didn’t know that _you_ have a guest,” Qin Fen said with a smirk. He glanced at Ziyang who only scoffed as his eyes fixated on the piece of fried chicken in his hand.

“I don’t have a guest-“ Minghui looked around and his eyes landed on the person next to him. The dark hair, brown round eyes and pretty lips. He smiled at Minghui who only managed to gape.

“I hope you don’t mind they invite me for dinner,” Bu Fan said and Minghui was reminded of his soothing deep timbre that Minghui, could boldly admit to his self, loved. “I-I thought you already left-“ 

“Well he was going to but I came back at the right moment so I asked him to hang around,” Ziyang spoke between chunks of chicken in his mouth. He seemed so carefree about it but Minghui knew the look Ziyang’s sending him.

“Honestly, this is the only time I’m grateful of Yang’s working hours. I get to meet the man who cured Yue Yue’s insomnia,” Qin Fen added loudly.

Minghui quickly corrected him. “He didn’t cure-“ but only to be ignored by Qin Fen as he added further, “You’re like his antidote!”

Bu Fan’s laugh synced with Minghui’s agonized grunt, both of which fed Qin Fen’s and Ziyang’s amusement. 

“Since you’re practically Yue Yue’s lifesaver, you earned yourself the honorary guest of the house title. You can come by whenever you want – or whenever no one’s around except Yue Yue.”

The last part that was added by Ziyang brought even more grunts from Minghui. He could only palm his face and prayed the embarrassing nightmare end early. His eyes then glanced at Bu Fan next to him just as he said, “I like that,” while glancing back at him and Minghui felt his self surrounded by a bed of flowers that wrapped around him, slightly suffocating but also calming. 


End file.
